CSC x171  Introduction to Interactive Entertainment

Course Information

Description

CSC x171 is an introduction to interactive entertainment. It includes an overview of the development process of games and an introduction to gaming fundamentals: logic, story and game play. Students will use a click-and-drag software application to create an entertaining or informative, socially responsible application. The course will focus on software design, software development, teamwork, and basic programming concepts. The course is offered to be an enjoyable introduction to both computer science and interactive entertainment.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the key elements necessary for a successful interactive entertainment application.
• Understand basic game design and be able to apply that knowledge to the creation or critique of a simple game.
• Gain a working knowledge of both game and software development.
• Create basic, interactive Flash applications using Actionscript.
• Gain experience working in teams.
• Write small programs and understand the following basic programming language concepts: control flow, looping, functions, and data structures.
• Gain a basic understanding how programming languages are converted into machine code and that applications exist at different levels of abstraction.
• Insight into the interactive entertainment industry, especially the gaming industry

Course Schedule

Required Textbooks

Salen and Zimmerman , "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals", 2004 The MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-24045-9

Recommended Textbooks

Keith Peters, "ActionScript 3.0 Animation", 2007 Friends of ED, ISBN 1-59059-791-5

Venit and Drake, "Extended Prelude to Programming: Concepts and Design (3rd ed)", 2007 Pearson Education, ISBN 0-321-41851-4

Prerequisites

• None.

Blackboard

• Discussion Boards (Students are responsible for reading the postings in these forums, so check them regularly.)
• Administration Forum :: Look here for class announcements, corrections, and other important information. DO NOT POST YOUR QUESTIONS HERE.
• Student Discussion Forum :: This is were you post your questions about lab assignments, projects, and course material. I encourage (and expect) students to provide answers as well as questions.
• Grades

Grading

Grading Distribution (approximately)

Grading Policy

Letter grades for the course will be assigned according to the following schedule:  100%-90% A, 89%-80% B, 79%-70% C, 69%-60% D, 59%-0% F.

Late Policy: Except for exceptional circumstances (e.g. a limb fell off), Late assignments will be given 0 points.

Regrades must be submitted within one week after the grades have been posted.

I will report all suspected incidents of academic dishonesty to the Office of Student's Rights and Responsibilities. If guilty, the student will receive an "F" in the course.

Labs

• All lab assignments must be done individually, unless otherwise stated on the writeup.
• You will need to demonstrate some assignments in lab. Others, you will need to electronically submit to me using the handin command.

Lab Assignment Schedule

Homework

• All homework must be done individually.
• You will submit your homework at the beginning of class on the day it is due.
• In the homework, you must demonstrate you understand and can apply the game design principles learned in class and in the reading.

Homework Assignment Schedule

Final Project

Your final, quarter-long project in this class is to design and implement, in Flash, a game.

• You will work in teams. The team size will be around 5, but will depend on the number of students in the class.
• There are four milestones associated with your project (see below). The last milestone consists of a 10 page paper and demo.
  • You will demonstrate your project in class and lab during the last week of the quarter (we'll signup for times). Your project must be working by this point or everyone in the group will receive 0 points for the entire project.
  • Each member of the group will be questioned, in person, about various aspects of the project and will be assigned individual grades based on their answers.
  • Each member of the group will provide an assessment of every other member in the group.
• Each member of the group must email me weekly progress reports (due every Friday). Students may also use this email to inform me of any group related issues. Progress reports will affect each members final project grade.
• Each group will also be responsible for making presentations to the class (see below).

Milestone Schedule

Class Participation

Your class participation grade is based on your performance in the following three areas:

• Class Exercises: During lecture, we will have small problems or activities that need to be solved or completed during lecture. I will collect your solutions and grade them. There are no makeups for missing these activities.
• Class Forums: I expect everyone to actively participate in our class forums on Blackboard. You should read the forums daily, post resources you find, ask questions, and answer questions from other students.
• 1-minute Presentations: Everyone will do a one 1-minute gamer presentation. These presentations are on historical figures, technology advances, or noteworthy events in gaming. You can find more information these presentations here.

Resources

• Gamasutra: the art and business of making games.